Apparatus, systems and methods for authentication of objects serve a valuable role in modern commercial transactions. For example, authentication may be particularly useful in e-commerce transactions where goods are being bought and sold over the Internet and the buyer and seller never actually meet, thus making it difficult to establish a trusted relationship between the buyer and seller.
More generally, authentication of objects and confirmation of ownership may help in combating counterfeiting of goods. Counterfeiting is estimated to cost billions of dollars each year to companies located around the world. Counterfeit goods compete with legitimate goods, often at greatly reduced prices, and may make it difficult to sell legitimate goods at or near their true market value. Furthermore, counterfeit goods may be of inferior or lesser quality, and may be inherently dangerous to consumers, or may otherwise impact or harm the goodwill of the legitimate manufacturers.
Counterfeiting is particularly problematic in high-end or designer products, where a significant amount of the market value of the object may lie in its design. Such high-end goods are often costly to develop but relatively inexpensive to copy. Consumers purchasing high-end products generally desire certainty that they are purchasing authentic brand-name products from a legitimate source, and not imitation or knock-off goods.
Counterfeiting has become increasingly problematic in recent years, as the quality of knock-off goods continues to increase, and it is becoming ever more difficult for consumers to immediately distinguish legitimate products from imitation goods. Thus, it is desirable to have systems for authenticating objects and ownership of objects.
Various approaches to authentication systems have been proposed. For example, Coppersmith et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,069,955) discloses a visible seal or label containing a serial number that is placed in plain view on product packaging. The visible label contains the serial number as well as a first private key encrypted version of the serial number. A second or hidden label inside of the package has thereon a second encrypted version of the serial number made using a second private key. The hidden label may be secured inside the package out of sight or placed on the back of the visible label and therefore viewable through a transparent case when opened or visible when peeled off. The private keys are known only to the manufacturer. Using a corresponding public key provided by the manufacturer, the consumer, law enforcement agent, or customs inspector can verify that the encrypted version matches the serial number. For example, using a point of sale machine equipped with the public key, a sales clerk can authenticate the product in front of the consumer at the time of purchase.
Asymmetric cryptography, also known as public key cryptography, is a type of cryptography that does not rely on a shared secret between two parties. Rather, in asymmetric cryptography, a party may have two different keys: a public key, which is publicly known, and a private key, which is known only to that party. Due to the mathematical relationship between the public and private keys in a key pair, data encrypted using a particular public key may only be decrypted using the corresponding private key (assuming that the public/private key pair has not been compromised). Conversely, data encrypted using a particular private key may only be decrypted using the corresponding public key.
Zorab et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,277,601) discloses an authentication and/or tracking system for identifying, tracking, authenticating and/or otherwise checking the legitimacy of one or more items that include a coded identity tag or mark. The system comprises identification means for reading the coded identity tag or mark and identifying said one or more items, storage means for storing information relating to the location, whether actual or intended, origin and/or ownership of said one or more items, and means for displaying or otherwise providing or verifying the information relating to an item when its identity tag or mark has been read.
Shaw (U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,581) discloses a system for authenticating an item, the item being associated with an event or with one or more participants in the event. The system comprises first identification means incorporated into an item prior to an event, the first identification means having an associated unique identifier, a database for storing an item record including information indicative of the unique identifier and information indicative of the item, and detecting means for authenticating that the item has been used at the event by detecting the first identification means and recognizing the unique identifier during the event whilst the item is being used. The arrangement is such that the item record is updated so as to include information indicative of the event in which the item has been used when the item has been detected by the detecting means.
However, these known approaches do not adequately address authentication of objects and ownership of objects. There is accordingly a need for improved systems, methods and apparatus for authenticating objects and ownership of objects that overcome at least some of the disadvantages of the above noted systems.